Retail sale for some nicotine replacement medicines was allowed outside pharmacies from January 2003. From November 2003 this regulation was extended to include a selection of other OTC medicines according to a list issued by the Norwegian Medicines Agency.
From 2009 the selection of medicines in non-pharmacy outlets was extended to also include emergency contraception, allergy medicines, hydrocortisone dermatologicals and agents used for treatment of dyspepsia/heartburn. The non-pharmacy outlets still sell only a limited number of drugs.
Table 6 shows the sales of OTC medicines and the share of the non-pharmacy sales 2006-2010. The table gives an overview of the top selling medicines that is available both in and outside pharmacies. Analgesics and nasal decongestants should be available in most non-pharmacy outlets.
The total increase of the top selling drugs in non-pharmacy outlets decreased by 2% measured in DDDs in 2010 compared to 2009 (table 6).
The share of non-pharmacy sales of OTC medicines increased to 44% in 2010 compared to 41% in 2009 (table 6).
Trends in sales in 2006-2010 - see table 6
Analgesics
In 2010 the sales measured in DDDs of OTC analgesics available also outside pharmacies decreased by 5% compared to 2009. The number of DDDs for OTC paracetamol decreased by 7 % in 2010 while the total volume of paracetamol increased by 1.6 %. Total number of DDDs for ibuprofen was stable in 2010 but the sales of OTC packages were reduced by 2%.
In 2010 the fraction of OTC sales of paracetamol and ibuprofen in terms of DDDs accounted for 50% of 56 % respectively of the total sales. For paracetamol this share has been gradually reduced from 2003 when the OTC share was 70%.
Nasal decongestants
Only one of the products (xylometazoline) in this group is available outside pharmacies and the market share in non-pharmacy outlets in this group was 55% in 2010. The sale of decongestants has increased by 2 % in 2010.
Nicotine replacement products
The sale of nicotine replacement products increased by 5 % in 2010. The majority of sale is still in pharmacies (75%).
Emergency contraception
Overall sale of emergency contraceptives amounted to 158 000 doses in 2010 and of these 6 400 doses (4%) was sold in non-pharmacy outlets. The total number of doses decreased by 5% compared to 2009.
Other medicines
The sales of expectorants, motion sickness tablets and antihistamines are in non-pharmacy outlets are given in table 6. Apart from the medicines listed in table 6, a selection of other products including vitamins and wound healing medicines are also available outside pharmacies.